Charbon in Cattle. 279 



arches the back and rests his quarters against a wall or fence. 

 The temperature is high, 105° to 107° ; and this is the ear- 

 liest symptom of the approach of the disease. The eye is 

 sunken, dull and often yellow ; the pulse weak and irregu- 

 lar, the breathing jerky, and there is tenderness over the 

 loins, back or sides. The urine becomes bloody, a bloody 

 liquid escapes from the nose, the eyes and the anus, and the 

 dung is mixed with blood. Hence the expressive name of 

 the disease, '' The Bloody Murrain.'' The temperature falls 

 below the natural one (100°), and the animal dies in convul- 

 sion or stupor, often within twenty-four or forty-eight hours 

 of the first symptoms ; or else, the symptoms rapidly disap- 

 pearing, he makes a prom23t recovery. 



A remarkable form of the disease prevailed in Nebraska 

 in 1872-3. It was confined to cows and heifers. They 

 were attacked, while apparently in perfect health, with 

 a malignant carbuncle or gangrenous swelling at the lower 

 commissure of the vagina, the spot looldng " as if dead or 

 frozen.'' This ulcerated and extended rapidly up the va- 

 gina, involving the rectum and surrounding tissues. In 

 about twenty-four hours from its first appearance, the cow 

 was seized with nervous shudders, violent twitching of the 

 tail and loss of power in the hind quarters. By the wild 

 eye, total loss of appetite and bellowing, it was easy to see the 

 suffering was great. In from thirty-six to forty-eight hours 

 from the beginning of the attack it usually proved fatal. 

 Inflammation and ulceration of the lower bowel and vagina 

 were the principal post moi^tem appearances. It was asserted 

 that the early application of crude petroleum to and in the 

 vagina cured some cases. The facts w^ere reported by Sena- 

 tor Dodge to the United States Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 but the nature of the disease was not recognized at the time. 



Treatment. — In spite of the extensive studies that have 

 been given to this destructive disease, no very successful 



